Juniors

Jo has extensive experience of working with junior athletes, from 8 to 16 years; spanning recreational sport to academy, elite, and GB level performance pathways. Learning about sport psychology at a young age builds strong foundations for enjoyment and mental performance as children develop in their sporting activities. Moreover, strategies learned in these sessions can be looked upon as ‘life skills’, transferable to broader life areas such as: time-management of sport and school-work; managing emotions in other contexts, such as school exams; and navigating other performance settings, such as drama or music.

Jo works with juniors on both an individual level, and through workshops within clubs, academies, and schools. All sessions are tailored to be engaging for juniors, utilising fun games, practical activities, or take-home posters. Jo has experience of working within youth disability clubs and with children with learning difficulties, and sessions are designed to be developmentally appropriate and tailored to the needs of your child.

Individual sessions for juniors are typically 50 minutes, and will feel informal and very much like a ‘chat’! To begin with, Jo will be keen to hear about your child’s sporting experiences. Gradually, Jo will help juniors to piece together how their mindset, feelings, and actions interlink, and create suitable mental tools and strategies for their sporting goals. Most juniors find they are happy to talk with Jo with their parent in a next-door room – but parents are very welcome to sit in too. Either way, it is important that parents are kept in the loop about session content, to help encourage and reinforce the strategies and topics covered. Jo is equally happy to liaise with coaches, and to assist juniors within their training or competition environment.

These sessions can take place at Jo’s home office, or potentially at your family home or sports club, geography-dependent. Evening and weekend slots to fit around school can also be arranged.

What JUNIORS and their PARENTS are saying about Jo’s sessions…

Kathryn (Mum to Isla and Caitlin):

I contacted Jo as both my daughters are competitive athletes who were performing well in training but weren’t able to translate this into competition. I am so glad I did! She immediately put all of us at ease, listened to both the girls and was able to pinpoint the issues very quickly. She then tailored a series of sessions, both individual and joint, that enabled them to successfully address these. She was very skilled at relating to the different ages (8 and 13 years old) and sports (athletics and gymnastics), so much so, that the girls positively looked forward to her visits. The results have been amazing, my eldest has had a season filled with PB’s so far, making two county finals in her first year in the age group and is exceeding her coach’s expectations and my youngest has made huge progress in conquering her competition nerves, making it through to National Finals and staying on the beam! At all times Jo has been extremely personable, professional, flexible and reliable –the results speak for themselves and I would not hesitate to recommend her.

Isla, 8-years, Gymnast:

Jo has helped me to overcome my nerves, not just in competition but also in training. I have improved my work because the techniques that Jo has given me really help me believe in myself.

Caitlin, 12-years, Sprint Hurdler:

Jo is really friendly and has helped me build my confidence by teaching me to use her techniques. She explains why things are happening in a way that I understand and her techniques are easy to use. I take my sheets with me to competitions to remind me of what we have discussed and to help me focus before my races. I feel as if I can tell her my worries because I know that she will know how I can overcome them. I am enjoying athletics again and am running much better in competition now because Jo has brought out the best in me.

I am a 10-year-old gymnast and I train for 24 hours a week on Bars, Beam, Vault and Floor. I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was 3 years old and I love it!

About 2 years ago, I suddenly found I couldn’t do one of the moves I’d been doing for ages on beam. Me and my coach and my mum tried everything to try and “get my flick” back but it just wouldn’t come and I nearly gave up gym completely.

Then I started working with Jo. She helped me think about things differently so that I focused on the “helpful head chatter” and I didn’t listen to unhelpful chatter. I have learnt to use traffic lights – ‘Stop, Think, Go’ – to help me with helpful thinking, as well as keep a focus spotlight in between pieces at a competition and to set goals which are in my control. After a few months I found my flick again. I still talk to Jo now, as I am learning new and more difficult skills.

Lydia (Izzy’s mum):

Izzy has been working with Jo now for about 2 years and during that time she has really developed in her attitude and approach to gymnastics. She approaches every competition with a mature mindset, setting herself goals she can control and focussing on her own performance and not those around her. This is a direct result of her work with Jo who has helped with so much more than the initial problem. Jo hadn’t worked with gymnasts before Izzy but that wasn’t important – she did her research and it was the principles which were important. Her engaging and encouraging manner means that she very quickly builds a strong rapport and we thoroughly recommend her.

Izzy (10) and Lydia (Izzy's Mum)Gymnastics

Jo has helped my son Louie on a few occasions over the last few years, from when he was 12 years old. He is very sporty and has played hockey and football at a high level. His nerves kept holding him back and he used to get very anxious before important matches. This sometimes lead to panic attacks as he would worry that he wasn’t going to be good enough and let his team down.

Jo came to our own home so that Louie felt comfortable in his environment. She talked through Louie’s concerns and gave him plans and idea’s to overcome his worries and focus on his game.

Every time she has been to see him it has really helped and he has been like a different child. He has got his confidence back and believed in himself again. As soon as something starts to worry him again we contact Jo to visit him.

Recently he had been off of sport for a few months due to injury and was getting concerned about getting back into training. One visit from Jo and he was back into playing football as confident as ever.

I can highly recommend Jo. She has a lovely way with my son and makes him feel at ease. I’m sure we’ll be seeing her again.

SamMum to 14-year-old Football and Hockey Player

Alex, 14, Badminton Player:

Thank you for your support and guidance which has helped me maintain much better consistency of performances between tournaments, prepare mentally for difficult matches and helped me to remain focused during games. You have made me understand how to effectively focus on doing my best during a match, rather than focusing on the outcome. You are easy to talk to, identified where I needed support and focused your efforts on making a difference to these areas.

Toby, 14, Badminton Player

Through our sessions you have helped me feel more confident on court and I feel that by having structured routines between points to ensure I focus on the next point I have been able to better manage difficult games. Thank you.

Toby & Alex (14)Badminton (Age-ranked GB top-10)

I came to Jo as I felt that my performance in competitions had dipped. Working with Jo, she has helped me understand that it was a lack of confidence and self-belief that had caused this dip. The sessions have been great and informative and Jo was very easy to talk to. Using the techniques Jo showed me in the sessions, I was able to use these in training and competitions. My confidence has greatly improved and my coaches have noticed! Thank you, Jo, for helping me perform better and these techniques I will continue to use as they are invaluable tools.

JF, 13-years-oldAcademy Footballer

My son worked with Jo for a period of one-year, as a junior cyclist looking for some structure to help with his successful competitive cycling career. Jo was excellent. She quickly established a rapport with him and gave him sensible goals and guidance throughout the process, taking care to be pragmatic and to keep things in focus. She was at all times extremely professional and responsive to all of our queries. The process was really beneficial to us all.

EDMum of 9-year-old Cyclist

‘J’, 10 years-old, all-round sports:

Jo helps me feel more confident with sport because I know that I’ll be able to overcome problems that come my way. Jo has really helped me by giving me different ways to deal with situations I find difficult to deal with.

‘C’, mum of ‘J’:

Jo has really helped my son cope with situations he finds challenging within sport (but also in other areas including music exams and computer games!). She has given him a wide variety of strategies for him to draw upon when things are not going the way he hoped/wanted. She is very easy to talk to and my son feels happy to chat about his challenges as a result of her calm, relaxed and friendly nature.